You Must Understand The True Historic Nature Of Today's Fed Decision

Today is expected to be "Taper Day," when the Fed begins the process of scaling back its purchases of Treasuries and Mortgage-Backed Securities, a process it's engaged in virtually non-stop since the financial crisis.

There's a nice narrative with the timing because it's right as we're getting all kinds of "5 Years After Lehman" stories.

But actually looking at this as some kind of financial crisis bookend is just being too narrow.

The big overarching narrative is the career of Ben Bernanke, which destiny determined would arrive at this moment. Bernanke was the perfect candidate for the job because his expertise was in The Great Depression and in unconventional tools that a central bank might employ in a crisis and when interest rates dropped to zero.